Publications & Testimony

An inmate in Alabama came within hours of execution despite the fact that serious doubts arose about whether he had even committed the crime that put him on death row. Thomas Arthur had been scheduled to die in Alabama on July 31, but the Alabama Supreme Court voted 5 – 4 on July 30 to stay his execution after another inmate confessed to the murder for which Arthur had been sentenced to death. In a sworn statement, Bobby Ray Gilbert confessed to killing Troy Wicker Jr. more than 26 years ago.

In a 4 – 3 vote, the Arkansas Parole Board recommended that Frank Williams’ death sentence be commuted to life without parole. The Board had received petitions for clemency from 13 state, national, and international organizations and developmental disabilities experts which concluded that Mr. Williams suffers from mental retardation based on his sub-average adaptive functioning and the diagnosis of psychological experts. The requests for clemency emphasized the fact that executing a mentally…

Argument: April 16, 2008 Decision: June 25, 2008 Modified: Oct. 1, 2008 The U.S. Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a Louisiana statute that allowed the death penalty for the rape of a child where the victim did not die. In Kennedy v. Louisiana, the Court held that all such laws, where the crime against an individual involved no murder were not in keeping with the national consensus restricting the death penalty to the worst offenses. As a result, the only two people sentenced to…

Arkansas’ leading advocacy organization for people with mental retardation, Arc Arkansas, delivered a letter to Governor Mike Beebe and the Arkansas Parole Board urging clemency for Frank Williams, Jr. because of his mental retardation. He is scheduled for execution on September 9 and the Arkansas Parole Board is holding a clemency hearing on his case on August 4. The letter notes that executing a mentally retarded person is unconstitutional based on both Arkansas’ 1993 statutory ban and the…

Professor Celestine Richards McConville explores the plight of inmates on Alabama’s death row who face execution despite being denied adequate representation for key parts of their appeal in her law review article, “The Meaninglessness of Delayed Appointments and Discretionary Grants of Capital Postconviction Counsel.” The article is part of a University of Tulsa Law Review symposium issue on “The Death Penalty and the Question of Actual Innocence.” The article points out that Alabama’s courts…

Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry commuted the death sentence of Kevin Young to life in prison without parole on July 24. Henry stated, “This was a very difficult decision and one that I did not take lightly.” He explained that, “after reviewing all of the evidence and hearing from both prosecutors and defense attorneys, I decided the Pardon and Parole Board made a proper recommendation to provide clemency and commute the death sentence.” This is only the second time the Governor has granted…

On July 28, 2008, the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment held the first of several public hearings to assess whether Maryland death penalty procedures meet basic standards of fairness and avoid bias and error. Established earlier this year by Maryland’s General Assembly, the 23-member commission is examining issues including racial disparities in the application of the death penalty, the costs of litigating prolonged capital cases as compared to life imprisonment, and the risk of…

The same doctor who was banned from executions in Missouri has been discovered as a participant in Arizona’s most recent execution. Dr. Alan Doerhoff’s signature was at the bottom of the EKG tape for Robert Comer, who was executed in 2007. Eight months earlier, Dr. Doerhoff was prohibited from participating in further Missouri executions because of questions about his standards and competence. Doerhoff had assisted in more than 54 executions in Missouri, developed procedures, inserted…

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently ruled that the state can force two death row inmates to take anti-psychotic medication so they are mentally competent enough to proceed with their appeals and be executed. The two inmates were sentenced to death but were found incompetent to participate in the appeals filed on their behalf. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that mentally incompetent inmates may not be executed. The Pennsylvania court overturned lower court decisions and directed them “to…

An op-ed by Texas state Senator Rodney Ellis and law professor Craig Jackson argues that Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons should follow the International Court of Justice’s order to stay the executions of Mexican citizens in Texas. They believe the World Court’s decision was the “right thing to do” and Gov. Perry “would do well to consider how defiance of the World Court ruling will affect the safety of Americans abroad who rely on the same treaty protections that Texas violated…